Method and apparatus for manufacturing articles of clothing

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for manufacturing garments in a continuous and automatic manner from strip material cut to provide profiled blanks. The method comprising the steps of traversing a blank on a first conveyor through a number of work stations to provide a semi-finished garment and then mechanically transferring it to a second conveyor for traverse through garment finishing stations.

nit ttes atet [191 Lee 1 1 Jan. 1, 11974 [5 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR3,097,733 7/1961 Frydryk 112/121.15 x

MANUFACTURING ARTICLES 0 3,208,419 9/1965 Frydryk 112/262 3,467,0379/1969 Frydryk ll2/l2l.l5 CLOTHHNG 3,488,778 1/ 1970 Goujon et al. 2/243R X [75] Inventor: Harold Barry Lee, Heidelberg, 3,505,149 4/1970Sanchez 1. 156/160 X Victoria Australia 3,604,015 9/1971 Dove 1 i 2/224A 3,663,962 5/1972 Burger i 2/243 R X [73] Assignee: Bonds-Wear Pty.Limited, 3,669,046 6/1972 Fowler 1l2/121.15

Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia [22] Filed: Man 28, W72 PrimaryExaminer-James R. Boler Attorney-Davis S. Kane et a1. [21] Appl. No.:238,783

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar 30, 1971 Australia PA 4452[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 112/121.29, 112/262, 2/224 A, A method and appr tus for manufacturing garments l 12/121.27 in a continuous andautomatic manner from strip ma- [51 llnt. Cl 10051) 23/00 terial cut toprovide profiled blanks. The method com- [58] Field! of Search112/121.11, 121.12, prising the steps of traversing a blank on a firstcon- 112/121.15, 121.29, 203, 262, 121,27; 2/243 veyor through a numberof work stations to provide a R, 224 R, 224 A; 156/251, 160semi-finished garment and then mechanically transferring it to a secondconveyor for traverse through gar- [56] Refierences Cited ment finishingstations.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,976,199 3/1961 Rand 156/251 X 20 Claims, 31Drawing Figures PATENTED JAN 1 I974 SHEET 01 0F 28 rwre r PATENTED H9743,782,309 sum '05 0F 28 PATENTEDJAN H914 3.782.309

sum near 28 I PATENTEDJAN Hm 3.782.309

' sum m2: or 28 PATENTEUJ" memo SHEET 09 0F 28 PATENTEDJAN U974 3,782309 sum 10 or 28 'PATENTEDJAN 1W 3.182.309

' SHEET 11 UF PATENTEUJAR um 3,782,309

wen 120F 28

1. Apparatus for automatically manufacturing briefs from blanks cut froma strip of interconnected blanks, said apparatus comprising a firstendless intermittently moving conveyor having a plurality of formingboards equally spaced therealong, releasable blank gripping means oneach forming board to grip and hold a blank thereon in an initialunfolded condition and subsequently a folded position, means to alignside edge portions of each blank, means to secure said edge portionstogether whilst held aligned to form the side seams of the waist and legopenings thereby defining said waist and leg openings for the finishedbriefs, means to position and temporarily locate a gusset flap over thecrutch of the briefs, means to position an elasticised loop around theside seamed blank adjacent the waist opening, means to temporarilysecure the waist portion Of said briefs to said loop thereby completingthe formation of a semi-finished pair of briefs; a second endlessintermittently moving conveyor having a plurality of individual movablebody forms equally spaced therealong, synchronized drive means for thefirst and second conveyors, means positioned in the path of travel ofsaid body forms to secure the waist loop permanently in position andfurther means positioned in the path of travel of said body forms toedge finish the leg openings and thereby permanently secure the gussetin position on said garment.
 2. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid forming board is hollow and of generally wedge shape having a sharpend, a blund end, two substantially parallel edges and two substantiallyrectangular converging faces, said grippers being supported fron withinthe forming boards and projecting from the faces thereof with operatingarms for the grippers on each face of the forming board projectingbeyond the forming board edges, wings on each edge of the forming boardeach wing being a truncated triangular prism hinged at its small end andbeing connected at its large end to a mechanism whereby the wings can bemoved in unison relative to the forming board about their hingedconnections and support arms fixed to the forming board carrying axleswhereby the forming board is connected to the first conveyor and is ableto turn end over end, and a cam follower arm fixed to one of said axles.3. The apparatus claimed in claim 2 including cam means engaged by saidcam follower arm and adapted to maintain the uppermost face of theforming board substantially horizontal during the traverse of a garmentblank along the first conveyor.
 4. The apparatus claimed in claim 3including blank positioning means which is operated at a blank severingstation where the forming board is stationary and prior to blanksevering, said positioning means by pressing on a blank between aforming board gripping one end of that blank and the next forming boardmoving the leading end of the attached following blank into grippingrelationship with the grippers of said next forming board.
 5. Theapparatus claimed in claim 4 including blank severing means whereby eachblank is severed from the next blank, said severing means includingpressure rollers on a movable member located in the path of travel ofsaid forming boards and blades mounted in said forming board and adaptedto be traversed by said pressure rollers.
 6. The apparatus claimed inclaim 2 including a turn over station having forming board turn overmeans comprising a turn over arm pivotal about an axis and having lugsto embrace the cam follower arm fixed to successive forming board axles,said axis being in line with the axle of each forming board when itstops at the turn over station so that by movement of said turn over armsaid forming board is turned end over end.
 7. The apparatus claimed inclaim 6 including smoothing means at said turn over station to smooththe blank out over and end of the forming board and on the uppermost(formerly lowermost) face thereof as the forming board is turned over.8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 also including a smoothingstation where moving brushes angularly sweep acorss the portion of theblank on the uppermost face of the forming board to smooth the blank andinsert the trailing edge thereof under the grippers on that face of theforming board.
 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 including a sewingstation having movable blades which position side edges of the blank inoverlying relationship and sewing machine positioning and drive meanswhich direct sewing machines along the overlying side edges of the blankto form garment side seams.
 10. The apparatus claimed in claim 2including a gusset station having gusset severing and positioning means,said positioning means including brushes and a gripper assembly, saidbrushes sweeping a severed end of the gusset into the gripper assemblyand after the application of gLue to the crutch part of the garment byglue printing means and the overlying of the gusset on the crutch partby the gripper assembly said brushes apply pressure to said gusset. 11.The apparatus claimed in claim 2 including an elastic material loopforming and fitting station, said elastic material being printed atspaced positions along its length with spots of heat reactive glue, saidloops being formed and fitted to a forming board over a side seamedblank thereon by a machine, said machine comprising a rotatablework-head having a circular periphery and a central axis of rotation,bearing means on a frame to support the work head, a stitching machinefixed to the frame in operative relationship to an anvil fitted into theperiphery of the work head, gripper means on the work head biased to agrip position on said anvil and releasable by first cam means on theframe, an arm universally pivotally mounted on the frame, an openablebeak biased to closed position fixed to the arm, means to bias the armto a position where the beak occupies a first position, second and thirdcam means on the frame adapted to move the arm and thus the beak througha path of travel which is substantially rectangular the four terminalpoints of said path defining four operative positions for said beak,fourth cam means on the frame to open the beak, and drive means adaptedto rotate said work head and move the beak between its four operativepositions and actuate said stitcher and actuate a material severingdevice, the operation of said machine being to move the beak from itsfirst position to its second position with the beak open to close thebeak to grip the end of a strip from a material supply which is to beformed into a loop, to move the beak to its third position to locate thestrip behind the beak under the gripper which is open and over theanivl, to close the gripper to clamp the material on the anvil and toopen the beak and move it to its fourth position, to rotate the workhead and at the same time move the beak from the fourth to the firstposition, upon completion of one rotation of the work head to operatethe stapler to form a loop of material and at the same time move thebeak to its second position and grip the material supply behind thestaple forming the loop, to actuate the severing device to cut thematerial supply strip between the staple and the beak and release thegripper, and a loop transfer mechanism comprising two pairs of fingerson carriages mounted on a rail and adapted to be moved together orapart, to provide a spacing between the pairs of fingers equal to and inexcess of the spacing of two pairs of cut-outs in the periphery of thework head, said rail being pivotally mounted on arms, drive meansselectively operable to raise and lower the arm, move the carriages andtilt the rail relative to the arms, the relative positioning of thefingers and the work head being such that with the arms raised and therail tilted the fingers can be swung into work head cut-outs by removingthe rail tilt, and by separation of the carriages and tilting andlowering of the rail and arms respectively remove the finished loop tofree the work head for a further loop fabricating cycle and position theloop in line with the forming boards on the first conveyor which at theloop positioning station stop with the waist end of the side seamedblank in line with the loop and by manipulation of the fingers the loopis deposited in position on the blank.
 12. The apparatus claimed inclaim 11 including an elastic loop securing station where heated membersare brought into engagement with the elastic loop to react the gluethereon.
 13. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 including a transferstation having movable arms carrying movable gripping fingers adapted toengage a semi-finished blank and transfer it from a forming board to analigned body form on the second conveyor.
 14. The machine claimed inclaim 1 wherein said body forms are each a replica of a body trunk fromthe waist tO the thigh having a waist opening and a pair of leg openingsand is mounted rotatably on a bar rotatably supported on the secondconveyor transverse to the direction of movement thereof.
 15. Themachine claimed in claim 14 including a waist finishing station having awaist finishing mechanism comprising a fixed frame, a frame movablerelative to the fixed frame, a drive shaft rotatably mounted on themovable frame and co-axial with the axis of rotation of the body form, areplica of the periphery of the shape of the waist opening fixed to thedrive shaft and drive members on the drive shaft engageable with drivenmembers fixed to the body form by movement of the movable frame, aconstant speed power shaft rotatably mounted on the movable framedrivingly coupled to a power transfer shaft and the periphery of saidreplica, first and second cam means driven by the transfer shaft, andthird cam means driven by the power shaft, a sewing machine carrying armassembly pivotally supported from the moving frame, said first cam meanscontrolling the movement of the moving frame, and said second and thirdcam means controlling the movement of said arm assembly, the arrangementbeing such that rotation of the power shaft causes movement of themoving frame with consequent driving engagement of the drive shaft withthe body form and movement of the arm assembly to bring a sewing machinefitted to the arm assembly into operative relationship with the waistedge of a garment and rotation of the drive shaft and thus the body formwith a uniform surface speed for the periphery of the garment waistopening.
 16. The machine claimed in claim 15 wherein the transfer shaftand the drive shaft are concentrically mounted and the arm assemblyincludes a first pair of arms pivotally connected to the moving frame attheir first ends and respectively at their second ends to the ends of asecond pair of arms, said second pair of arms being disposed betweenside guides and carrying a cam roller urged toward a lateral positioningcam forming the third cam means and a sewing machine support mounted onthe second pair of arms and wherein said second cam means includes an upand down positioning cam and engaged by a roller mounted on said armassembly, said last mentioned cam and roller being maintained inengagement by an air cylinder extending between said arm assembly andsaid moving frame.
 17. The machine claimed in claim 15 including twoangularly disposed leg opening finishing mechanisms positioned at afinishing station, each mechanism comprising a main frame, a tablemounted on the main frame and movable to and fro, a work shaft rotatablymounted on the table co-axial with an axis of the leg opening to befinished which is circular in shape, a sewing machine support fixed tothe work shaft, cam means on a drive shaft rotatably mounted on theframe to engage and move the table to and fro in a path which representsthe profile of the edge of the leg opening to be finished in a plane atright angles to said axis, power transfer means coupling the work shaftand the drive shaft to effect rotation of the former, a sewing machinedrive comprising a lay shaft mounted rotatably on the table co-axialwith the work shaft and adapted to transfer a drive from a sewingmachine motor mounted on said table to a sewing machine mounted on saidsewing machine support and control means for energising said sewingmachine motor and controlling the sewing machine functions as a resultof the rotation of said drive shaft, the arrangement being such thatrotation of the drive shaft effects rotation of the sewing machinesupport and movement of the table to cause the sewing mechanism of asewing machine to trace a path which is circular relative to said axisand follows the profile of the garment opening edge in a plane at rightangles to said axis.
 18. The machine claimed in claim 17 including foreach mechanism a locating bar which is co-axial with the work shaft andis mounted on the table and moving means to axially move said locatingbar into and out of engagement with a socket opening in the body form inline with said axis.
 19. The machine claimed in claim 1 including astripping mechanism to remove finished briefs from a body form saidstripping mechanism comprising arms movable into and out of positionbeneath a body form to be stripped, lifters on said arms adapted toengage the waist of a pair of briefs and expand it and a movable gripperto grip the crutch of the briefs and strip them from the body form. 20.A method for the automatic manufacture of briefs from fabric, saidmethod comprising the steps of providing a fabric strip of blankspre-cut to provide for leg and waist openings in a finished brief,successively feeding the blanks onto garment forming boards equallyspaced along an intermittently moving first endless conveyor, advancingthe conveyor thereby traversing the forming boards successively througha plurality of garment forming stations and performing the followingsteps on each blank: a. folding about its forming board and releasablysecuring each blank thereto in folded position; b. securing the edgeportions permanently together to form the side seams of the briefsthereby defining said leg and waist openings; c. forming at least onegusset located in overlying relationship with the crutch portion of thebriefs and temporarily securing said gusset in position; d. encirclingsaid blank with an elasticised loop adjacent the waist opening of thebriefs, temporarily securing the waist portion to the elasticised band,to provide a semi-finished pair of briefs, transferring eachsemi-finished pair of briefs from its associated forming board on thefirst conveyor to use of a plurality of body forms equally spaced alongan intermittently moving second endless conveyor the movement of whichis synchronized with said first conveyor, advancing said conveyorsthereby traversing said body forms successively through a plurality ofgarment finishing stations, permanently securing the elasticised waistband in position at one of said garment finishing stations and edgefinishing the leg openings of said briefs at another of said garmentfinishing stations.